Vincenzo Valgrisi, also known under his Latinized name as Vicentius Valgrisius (c. 1490), was a French-born printer active primarily in Venice in the 16th century.

Early life

Valgrisi was born in

Charly ''Charly'' (marketed and stylized as ''CHAЯLY'') is a 1968 American drama film directed and produced by Ralph Nelson and written by Stirling Silliphant. It is based on ''Flowers for Algernon'', a science-fiction short story (1958) and subseque ...

near

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

circa 1490.

Career

During his career, he published approximately 200 works. Most of his work was published in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, with a brief period being published in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

from 1549 to 1551. Valgrisi was in Venice well before 1532. An act of sale dated December 16, 1532 documents that Valgrisi, along with his father-in-law acquired a bookshop at the sign of ''The Head of Erasmus'' where he attests to having lived in Venice for many years. Many of the books published out of this bookshop bear the imprint "Ex Officina Erasmiana". In 1570, the

Roman Inquisition The Roman Inquisition, formally the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, was a system of partisan tribunals developed by the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church, during the second half of the 16th century, respons ...

fined him 50 ducats (about 6oz of gold) for selling prohibited books. His storehouse was found to contain 1,150 volumes of prohibited works, including 400 copies of ''Simolachri, historie e figure de la morte'', Valgrisi's imitation of Hans Holbein's ''

Dance of Death The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification of ...

''. His edition of ''

Orlando Furioso ''Orlando furioso'' (; ''The Frenzy of Orlando'', more loosely ''Raging Roland'') is an Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was no ...

'' by

Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto (; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic ''Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ''Orlando Innamorato'', describes the ...

is noted for two innovations: the start of every canto was preceded by a full page illustration (not a small vignette as was common in his time), and the text was accompanied by maps that followed the movements of the characters.Charlotte Gandi, ''Il controllo della stampa a Venezia. Padroni dei libri e dell’informazione'', Università Ca' Foscari, pag. 20. File:Valgrisi 2.jpg File:Valgrisi 3.jpg File:Valgrisi 4.jpg File:Valgrisi 5.jpg

References

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Early life

Career

References

Bibliography

See also